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Montague Island is one of the best halibut fishing areas in Alaska. It sits like a sentry at the mouth of Prince William Sound and attracts halibut from the Pacific Ocean. The area has so much feed halibut routinely come here to feed with reckless abandon. To get here charters and private boaters must come from Whittier or Seward and spend time and money to get there, but the time and fuel is more than worth the effort. Many halibut anglers who come here spend the night and take home double limits for their two day outing.

For those lucky enough to fish Montague Island will enjoy halibut Nirvana. Halibut here can be taken in the shallows or deeper areas as shown on the halibut fishing map. While I did not highlight all of the great spots here, a uick glance of the chart shows a huge area, all of which holds halibut. Some areas are better than others, but lets face it, almost every square inch of seafloor here could produce the biggest halibut of your life.

Virtually any halibut fishing bait or lure will work here. These halibut are hungry feeders and aggressive most of the time. However, like all halibut fishing areas, some things do work better than others.

Best Baits: Herring, Squid, Pink Salmon Bellies.

Best Lures: 16 to 24 ounce jig heads or FAT Head Jig Heads in 12 or 16 ounces.  Jigging here works wonders on these aggressive halibut. Berkley Gulp Peeler Crabs, copper penny color also works great, especially when halibut are in the shallows feeding on small crabs. These small crab imitations are threaded on circle hooks and fish just off bottom. During the tides these tiny crabs wash off the bottom and flush around to attract halibut. When you catch a halibut, regardless of what you caught it on, open the stomach an see what they are feeding on. If you see crabs, try the copper penny Berkley Gulp Peeler Crabs

Other great lures include 10 ounce white Deep Stingers, fished just off bottom. These awesome baitfish imitating jigs will catch everything from halibut, rockfish, lingcod and salmon.

I also like 10-inch FAT Squids, in UV or Glow colors. These lifelike squids look like the real thing and attract halibut. When halibut see these big soft plastic squids they get aggressive and hit harder than bait.

As stated, virtually any bait or lure will work here, but bring extra gear, just in case you snag bottom.

Best Depths: During small tidal swings, fish deep. During big tidal swings, fish shallow and try the Gulp Peeler Crabs or jigs.

Good Luck,

John